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>> Monday, December 31, 2007

So today we have the last day of the year. Could there be any excuse if I didn't greet all of You? To be short, I just wanna send You all those classical regards and a few original ones. And here is my last gift this year.

Perhaps most of You have already seen or heard this song. But today Queen’s first new studio recording in ten years and Paul Rodgers’ first in 7 years, named "Say It's Not True," is officially out .

‘Say It’s Not True’ comes as an enhanced CD single release carrying the full video shown at the December 1st 46664 Johannesburg concert. All royalties from world sales will be donated to Nelson Mandela’s AIDS cause, 46664. And that's the true spirit of giving gifts.

>> Thursday, December 27, 2007

Christmas are slowly going away till the next year. Almost everybody found their gifts under the Christmas tree, however, not everyone got what he or she wanted. Why some of us didn't get the present we wanted even if we had written a letter to Santa? Here is the answer:

>> Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Let's go on with the "-est" gifts list. Today I can offer You the smallest house. Santa perhaps could even carry it. And t is back on the market, they say.

To exit through the back door of Toronto's "smallest house," first fold the Murphy bed back into the wall; it takes up the entire seven-foot width of the bedroom, many newspapers and internet sites quote "Reuters". And You can be convinced by photos here.

Built in 1912, the pint-size "Little House" features one bedroom, a kitchen with folding table and chairs, a living room and a full, if narrow, bathroom.

With a living area of just 300 square feet, it was bought and renovated this year, and is back on the market for C$173,000 ($227,916).

"Holy cow, that is the smallest house," said cab driver Kamran Ghuman, after pulling up outside 128 Day Avenue in Toronto's west end.

"It looks like it used to be a garage and then they made a house out of it."

Dwarfed between two larger homes, the detached bungalow was bought last spring for C$139,000 ($183,060) and redone inside and out, including a new decorative window for its gabled roof, hardwood floors, new cabinetry, appliances, a stone walkway and gardens.

"It reminds people of a small cottage or what they may have seen in a storybook," said owner David Blois, a property manager who took on the "flip" project.

Many neighbours agree.

"Look how cute it is. It looks like a little chapel," said Marika Wheeler, who has lived down the street for over 30 years and has seen the house change owners several times.

Blois says the house was built by a contractor on a strip of land where the city forgot to cut the curb for a laneway. He lived there for 20 years.

Since then, it has been home to several families, including immigrants from Hungary, Italy and Brazil.

Blois said one man who walked by the house during the renovations said he had lived there with his wife and three children.

Real estate agent Cristina Lopes said the property was a steal compared with bachelor or one-bedroom condominiums in Toronto, typically priced at over C$200,000 ($263,374) on property website mls.ca.

"Even though this is only 300 square feet, it looks more spacious than a condo that's 700 or 800 square feet," Lopes said.

"It all depends on the layout and the layout of this home was really nicely done."

The house, on a street of two- and three-bedroom homes, also boasts a patio and parking for two cars, as well as a storage basement, accessible through a trapdoor in the floor.

Lopes said the owner has received a few offers since the house went on the market, but they fell through.

>> Monday, December 17, 2007

After catching his 15-year-old smoking pot, a father sold the hard-to-get "Guitar Hero III" video game he bought his son for 90 dollars for Christmas at an online auction, fetching 9,000 dollars.

The sale took place after the father spent two weeks searching for the video game for the Nintendo Wii gameboard, Yahoo quotes AFP.

"So I was so relieved in that I had finally got the Holy Grail of Christmas presents pretty much just in the nick of time. I couldn't wait to spread the jubilance to my son," the father wrote on the eBay website.

"Then, yesterday, I came home from work early and what do I find? My innocent little boy smoking pot in the back yard with two of his delinquent friends."

The man, a school teacher, who kept his identity private, said he sold the coveted video game to punish his son and discourage him from smoking dope.

The sale was a boon for the family's bank account, since the game the father purchased for 90 dollars (US) was finally sold to an Australian who plunked down 9,100 dollars for it.

The naughty son, however, will not go without a present on Christmas.

"I am still considering getting him a game for his Nintendo. Maybe something like Barbie as the Island Princess or Dancing with the Stars ... I know he will just love them," the father said, tongue-in-cheek.

>> Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Now I know how much money one needs to make other one happy. 240 million euros or 352,948 US dollars.

This is the price for an island called Muchao da Poava, situated 300 metres from the coast of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, at its nearest point . It is the most expensive island for sale in the world, private islands online claim. It seems strange but the island of approximately 1200 hectares is still unpopulated.

For those, who in spite of living in Eden will still need somewhere to travel, this information will be useful too: the island is situated just 5km away from Lisbon harbour and just 6km away from the Lisbon International Airport. For others, it should help to ease the understanding how near the island is from Lisbon, one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

I'm sorry I've got just a satelite image of the island:

However, from the island You'd be able to admire sights something like that:

>> Monday, December 10, 2007

Today it's not about greatest tips for gifts for men, women or children. It's even not about Santa Claus. It's about celebrations and gifts themselves. A few days ago I launched a poll asking which gifts are more important and valuable for You: Christmas, Birthday or other celebration?

As we see, thirteen voters declared their opinion and Christmas presents won the first place. However, they had overtaken Birthday gifts only by one vote. Gifts presented on other occasion also got one vote and one Grinch voted who hate presents as a kind.

What the conclusions might be? First of all, of course, we can say that this poll provided perhaps no value for sociologists and other scientists. One the other hand, results obviously show that Christmas and Birthday are the most important celebrations and their are strongly related with gifts.

>> Tuesday, December 4, 2007

After the Christmas gifts are chosen, someone has to deliver them. Everybody knows who is that guy. But does anybody know how he do that?

Santa must live in Kyrgyzstan and make his rounds at lightning speed if he is to deliver gifts to all the world's children on time, a Swedish consultancy has concluded.

Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Santa Claus's route around the planet includes stops at 2.5 billion homes, assuming that children of all religions receive a present from the jolly man in the red suit, Anders Larsson of the engineering consultancy Sweco told AFP which is quoted by Yahoo.com.

"We estimated that there are 48 people per square kilometer (120 per square mile) on Earth, and 20 metres (66 feet) between each home. So if Santa leaves from Kyrgyzstan and travels against the Earth's rotation he has 48 hours to deliver all the presents," he said.

Father Christmas has long been believed to reside at the North Pole, although a number of northern towns, including Finnish Rovaniemi, claim to be his true home.

But Sweco's report on Santa's most efficient route -- which takes into account factors like geographic density and the fewest detours -- shows that he wouldn't be able to make his round-the-world trip from there in time.

"He has 34 microseconds at each stop" to slide down the chimney, drop off the presents, nibble on his cookies and milk and hop back on his sleigh, Larsson said.

Santa's reindeer must travel at a speed of 5,800 kilometers (3,604 miles) per second to make the trip on time.

Another report circulating on the Internet suggested however that Santa's sleigh, weighed down with presents and travelling at supersonic speed, would encounter such massive air resistance that the entire contraption would burst into flames and be vaporised within 4.26 thousandths of a second.

>> Monday, December 3, 2007

The Christmas time has come. Our eyes have already witnessed the situation and now it's the time for the ears. Every year famous musicians prepare and present their gifts to the audience, not just because of the Christmas-occupied hearts, of course, but also of the sums of money that come to market in this period. However, it's not about the money this time. If real artists create something, they do it frankly.

"The Killers" share with us their attitude towards major winter celebration this time and it's definitely "killerish" approach. Melody fits to traditional Christmas mood and the ironic lyrics reflects traditional style of the band. And a genial clip (let me mention at least one feature - they sing about Christmas, but there are now traditional sentimental snow or something, the action is taking part somewhere in the desert).

A great composite, to my mind. Therefore, let's watch the video clip of "The Killers" song "Don't Shoot Me Santa" and identify that as "Merry Christmas, our fans!".